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INTRODUCTION Estrogen deprivation using aromatase inhibitors is one of the standard treatments for postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. However,one of the consequences of prolonged estrogen suppression is acquired drug resistance. Our group is interested in studying antihormone resistance and has previously reported the development of an estrogen deprived human breast cancer cell line,MCF-7:5C,which undergoes apoptosis in the presence of estradiol. In contrast,another estrogen deprived cell line,MCF-7:2A,appears to have elevated levels of glutathione (GSH) and is resistant to estradiol-induced apoptosis. In the present study,we evaluated whether buthionine sulfoximine (BSO),a potent inhibitor of glutathione (GSH) synthesis,is capable of sensitizing antihormone resistant MCF-7:2A cells to estradiol-induced apoptosis. METHODS Estrogen deprived MCF-7:2A cells were treated with 1 nM 17beta-estradiol (E2),100 microM BSO,or 1 nM E2 + 100 microM BSO combination in vitro,and the effects of these agents on cell growth and apoptosis were evaluated by DNA quantitation assay and annexin V and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) staining. The in vitro results of the MCF-7:2A cell line were further confirmed in vivo in a mouse xenograft model. RESULTS Exposure of MCF-7:2A cells to 1 nM E2 plus 100 microM BSO combination for 48 to 96 h produced a sevenfold increase in apoptosis whereas the individual treatments had no significant effect on growth. Induction of apoptosis by the combination treatment of E2 plus BSO was evidenced by changes in Bcl-2 and Bax expression. The combination treatment also markedly increased phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) levels in MCF-7:2A cells and blockade of the JNK pathway attenuated the apoptotic effect of E2 plus BSO. Our in vitro findings corroborated in vivo data from a mouse xenograft model in which daily administration of BSO either as a single agent or in combination with E2 significantly reduced tumor growth of MCF-7:2A cells. CONCLUSIONS Our data indicates that GSH participates in retarding apoptosis in antihormone-resistant human breast cancer cells and that depletion of this molecule by BSO may be critical in predisposing resistant cells to E2-induced apoptotic cell death. We suggest that these data may form the basis of improving therapeutic strategies for the treatment of antihormone resistant ER-positive breast cancer. View Publication

Excessive receptor activator of NF-kappaB ligand (RANKL) signaling causes enhanced osteoclast formation and bone resorption. Thus,down-regulation of RANKL expression or its downstream signals may be a therapeutic approach to the treatment of pathological bone loss. In this study,we investigated the effects of Trolox,a water-soluble vitamin E analogue,on osteoclastogenesis and RANKL signaling. Trolox potently inhibited interleukin-1-induced osteoclast formation in bone marrow cell-osteoblast coculture by abrogating RANKL induction in osteoblasts. This RANKL reduction was attributed to the reduced production of prostaglandin E(2) via a down-regulation of cyclooxygenase-2 activity. We also found that Trolox inhibited osteoclast formation from bone marrow macrophages induced by macrophage colony-stimulating factor plus RANKL in a reversible manner. Trolox was effective only when present during the early stage of culture,which implies that it targets early osteoclast precursors. Pretreatment with Trolox did not affect RANKL-induced early signaling pathways,including MAPKs,NF-kappaB,and Akt. We found that Trolox down-regulated the induction by RANKL of c-Fos protein by suppressing its translation. Ectopic overexpression of c-Fos rescued the inhibition of osteoclastogenesis by Trolox in bone marrow macrophages. Trolox also suppressed interleukin-1-induced osteoclast formation and bone loss in mouse calvarial bone. Taken together,our findings indicate that Trolox prevents osteoclast formation and bone loss by inhibiting both RANKL induction in osteoblasts and c-Fos expression in osteoclast precursors. View Publication

Synthetic lethality triggered by PARP inhibitor (PARPi) yields promising therapeutic results. Unfortunately,tumor cells acquire PARPi resistance,which is usually associated with the restoration of homologous recombination,loss of PARP1 expression,and/or loss of DNA double-strand break (DSB) end resection regulation. Here,we identify a constitutive mechanism of resistance to PARPi. We report that the bone marrow microenvironment (BMM) facilitates DSB repair activity in leukemia cells to protect them against PARPi-mediated synthetic lethality. This effect depends on the hypoxia-induced overexpression of transforming growth factor beta receptor (TGF$\beta$R) kinase on malignant cells,which is activated by bone marrow stromal cells-derived transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-$\beta$1). Genetic and/or pharmacological targeting of the TGF-$\beta$1-TGF$\beta$R kinase axis results in the restoration of the sensitivity of malignant cells to PARPi in BMM and prolongs the survival of leukemia-bearing mice. Our finding may lead to the therapeutic application of the TGF$\beta$R inhibitor in patients receiving PARPis. View Publication

BACKGROUND The nonsense mutation,c.3846G{\textgreater}A (aka: W1282X-CFTR) leads to a truncated transcript that is susceptible to nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) and produces a shorter protein that is unstable and lacks normal channel activity in patient-derived tissues. However,if overexpressed in a heterologous expression system,the truncated mutant protein has been shown to mediate CFTR channel function following the addition of potentiators. In this study,we asked if a quadruple combination of small molecules that together inhibit nonsense mediated decay,stabilize both halves of the mutant protein and potentiate CFTR channel activity could rescue the functional expression of W1282X-CFTR in patient derived nasal cultures. METHODS We identified the CFTR domains stabilized by corrector compounds supplied from AbbVie using a fragment based,biochemical approach. Rescue of the channel function of W1282X.-CFTR protein by NMD inhibition and small molecule protein modulators was studied using a bronchial cell line engineered to express W1282X and in primary nasal epithelial cultures derived from four patients homozygous for this mutation. RESULTS We confirmed previous studies showing that inhibition of NMD using the inhibitor: SMG1i,led to an increased abundance of the shorter transcript in a bronchial cell line. Interestingly,on top of SMG1i,treatment with a combination of two new correctors developed by Galapagos/AbbVie (AC1 and AC2-2,separately targeting either the first or second half of CFTR and promoting assembly,significantly increased the potentiated channel activity by the mutant in the bronchial epithelial cell line and in patient-derived nasal epithelial cultures. The average rescue effect in primary cultures was approximately 50{\%} of the regulated chloride conductance measured in non-CF cultures. CONCLUSIONS These studies provide the first in-vitro evidence in patient derived airway cultures that the functional defects incurred by W1282X,has the potential to be effectively repaired pharmacologically. View Publication

Introducing a reactive carbonyl to a scaffold that does not otherwise have an electrophilic functionality to create a reversible covalent inhibitor is a potentially useful strategy for enhancing compound potency. However,aldehydes are metabolically unstable,which precludes the use of this strategy for compounds to be tested in animal models or in human clinical studies. To overcome this limitation,we designed ketone-based functionalities capable of forming reversible covalent adducts,while displaying high metabolic stability,and imparting improved water solubility to their pendant scaffold. We tested this strategy on the ferroptosis inducer and experimental therapeutic erastin,and observed substantial increases in compound potency. In particular,a new carbonyl erastin analog,termed IKE,displayed improved potency,solubility and metabolic stability,thus representing an ideal candidate for future in vivo cancer therapeutic applications. View Publication

INTRODUCTION Bronchial asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by airway inflammation,allergen-induced hypersensitivity and dyspnea. Most asthmatic patients demonstrate oscillations of disease symptoms within 24 hours regulated by circadian clock genes. We hypothesized that these genes may be regulators of childhood asthma risk. OBJECTIVES The aim was to investigate whether single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the circadian clock genes are associated with childhood asthma risk. We also aimed to analyze the mRNA level of clock genes in the blood of asthmatic children and NHBE cells stimulated with IL-13. MATERIALS AND METHODS Peripheral blood was collected from 165 asthmatic and 138 healthy Polish children. NHBE cells were culture at the air-liquid interface (ALI) with IL-13 as an in vitro model of allergic inflammation. Using TaqMan probes,we genotyped 32 SNPs in: CLOCK,BMAL1,PER3 and TIMELESS. Expression analysis for TIMELESS was performed using real-time PCR with SYBR Green. For haplotype and genotype statistical analysis we used Haploview 4.2 and STATISTICA version 12,respectively. Gene expression analysis was performed in DataAssist v3.01. RESULTS We found that three polymorphisms in TIMELESS (rs2291739,rs10876890,rs11171856) and two haplotypes (TTTT and CTAC) were associated with asthma risk. We also found significantly decreased expression of TIMELESS in the blood of asthmatic children as compared to the healthy children (P = 0.0289) and in NHBE cells stimulated with IL-13 (P = 0.0302). CONCLUSIONS In our study,we showed for the first time that TIMELESS variants and expression may be associated with childhood asthma. View Publication

Existing antibiotics are inadequate to defeat tuberculosis (TB),a leading cause of death worldwide. We sought potential targets for host-directed therapies (HDTs) by investigating the host immune response to mycobacterial infection. We used high-throughput CRISPR knockout and CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) screens to identify perturbations that improve the survival of human phagocytic cells infected with Mycobacterium bovis BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Gu{\'{e}}rin),as a proxy for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Many of these perturbations constrained the growth of intracellular mycobacteria. We identified over 100 genes associated with diverse biological pathways as potential HDT targets. We validated key components of the type I interferon and aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling pathways that respond to the small-molecule inhibitors cerdulatinib and CH223191,respectively; these inhibitors enhanced human macrophage survival and limited the intracellular growth of Mtb. Thus,high-throughput functional genomic screens,by elucidating highly complex host-pathogen interactions,can serve to identify HDTs to potentially improve TB treatment. View Publication

Two groups recently reported the in vitro differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into insulin-secreting cells,achieving an elusive goal for regenerative medicine. Herein we provide a perspective regarding these developments,compare phenotypes of the insulin-containing cells to human $\beta$ cells,and discuss implications for type 1 diabetes research and clinical care. View Publication

Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF) is a devastating progressive disease in which normal lung structure and function is compromised by scarring. Lung fibrosis can be caused by thoracic radiation,injury from chemotherapy and systemic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis that involve inflammatory responses. CDDO-Me (Methyl 2-cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9(11)dien-28-oate,Bardoxolone methyl) is a novel triterpenoid with anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory properties as shown by our in vitro studies. Based on this evidence,we hypothesized that CDDO-Me would reduce lung inflammation,fibrosis and lung function impairment in a bleomycin model of lung injury and fibrosis. To test this hypothesis,mice received bleomycin via oropharyngeal aspiration (OA) on day zero and CDDO-Me during the inflammatory phase from days -1 to 9 every other day. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung tissue were harvested on day 7 to evaluate inflammation,while fibrosis and lung function were evaluated on day 21. On day 7,CDDO-Me reduced total BALF protein by 50{\%},alveolar macrophage infiltration by 40{\%},neutrophil infiltration by 90{\%} (p≤0.01),inhibited production of the inflammatory cytokines KC and IL-6 by over 90{\%} (p≤0.001),and excess production of the pro-fibrotic cytokine TGF$\beta$ by 50{\%}. CDDO-Me also inhibited $\alpha$-smooth muscle actin and fibronectin mRNA by 50{\%} (p≤0.05). On day 21,CDDO-Me treatment reduced histological fibrosis,collagen deposition and $\alpha$SMA production. Lung function was significantly improved at day 21 by treatment with CDDO-Me,as demonstrated by respiratory rate and dynamic compliance. These new findings reveal that CDDO-Me exhibits potent anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory properties in vivo. CDDO-Me is a potential new class of drugs to arrest inflammation and ameliorate fibrosis in patients who are predisposed to lung injury and fibrosis incited by cancer treatments (e.g. chemotherapy and radiation) and by systemic autoimmune diseases. View Publication

CDC7 is a serine/threonine kinase that has been shown to be required for the initiation and maintenance of DNA replication. Up-regulation of CDC7 is detected in multiple tumor cell lines,with inhibition of CDC7 resulting in cell cycle arrest. In this paper,we disclose the discovery of a potent and selective CDC7 inhibitor,XL413 (14),which was advanced into Phase 1 clinical trials. Starting from advanced lead 3,described in a preceding communication,we optimized the CDC7 potency and selectivity to demonstrate in vitro CDC7 dependent cell cycle arrest and in vivo tumor growth inhibition in a Colo-205 xenograft model. View Publication